Piedmont Completes Additional Testwork to Produce High Grade Spodumene and Byproduct Concentrates
- 120 kg of Dense Medium Separation (“DMS”) and flotation concentrates prepared for LiOH testwork
- Byproduct quartz samples have received positive initial feedback from key potential customers
- Quartz samples meet solar glass customer specifications – additional samples requested
- Additional potential clients will receive byproduct quartz, feldspar and mica samples in Q2
- Chemical plant Pre-Feasibility Study and updated integrated Scoping Study expected in May 2020
- Lithium hydroxide bench scale testwork nearing conclusion with results expected in Q2 2020
NEW YORK – Piedmont Lithium Limited (ASX:PLL; NASDAQ:PLL) (“Piedmont” or “Company”) is pleased to announce that it has produced 120 kg of spodumene concentrate from core samples collected from the Company’s Piedmont Lithium Project (“Project”) located within the world-class Carolina Tin-Spodumene Belt (“TSB”) . These samples have now been used in the bench-scale lithium hydroxide testwork program nearing completion at SGS laboratories in Lakefield, Ontario. Concentrate qualities and recoveries were consistent with earlier testwork programs.
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Table 1: Results of Combined DMS + Locked Cycle Flotation Testwork Results |
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Product |
Li2O (%) |
Fe2O3 (%) |
Recovery (%) |
|
Spodumene Concentrate |
6.21 |
0.87 |
82.4 |
We are also pleased to announce production of additional larger-scale samples of quartz and feldspar concentrates as part of this testwork. Quartz samples prepared in SGS laboratories were delivered to potential solar glass customers and met customer quality expectations.
Confidential customer discussions are ongoing through the Company’s marketing partnership with Ion Carbon, a division of AMCI. Samples of quartz and feldspar concentrates will be delivered to other potential clients in the coming weeks. Mica samples will be produced in the coming weeks.
The updated spodumene concentrate and byproduct results will be used to support the Company’s study updates which will be announced later this month.
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Table 2: Average of Results of Six Locked Cycle Byproduct Tests |
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|
Li2O |
SiO2 |
Al2O3 |
K2O |
Na2O |
CaO |
MgO |
MnO |
P2O5 |
Fe2O3 |
|
Quartz Concentrate |
0.02 |
99.0 |
0.32 |
0.04 |
0.11 |
0.01 |
0.01 |
0.01 |
0.01 |
0.01 |
|
Feldspar Concentrate |
0.12 |
68.0 |
19.35 |
2.45 |
9.30 |
0.17 |
0.04 |
0.01 |
0.15 |
0.05 |
Keith D. Phillips, President and Chief Executive Officer, commented: “Our lithium hydroxide testwork program continues at SGS, and is based on the high-quality, low impurity spodumene concentrate prepared from a 1.75 tonne representative ore sample from Piedmont’s Core property. Byproduct testwork is also continuing, and after positive initial customer feedback we have received from prospective quartz customers, we are beginning to evaluate the opportunity to expand our planned byproduct production, potentially further lowering our spodumene concentrate costs.”
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View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200513005150/en/
Keith D. Phillips
President & CEO
T: +1 973 809 0505
E: kphillips@piedmontlithium.com
Timothy McKenna
Investor and Government Relations
T: +1 732 331 6457
For further information, contact:
SVP, Corporate Communications & Investor Relations
T: +1 704 575 2549
E: esanders@piedmontlithium.com